Michael, upon seeing John enter his office stood up from his desk and walked out to meet him halfway, a large Cheshire cat smile on his face he reached out to shake John's hand. "Marie said you had great news for me, well, how great?"
John looked into Michael's eyes, hardly able to contain a large smile on his face, as he almost was beside himself with the news. "It's incredibly big Michael. We've solved the bug in the production version of the CASTER. I called and informed Carlos already, he was stoked."
"John, do you know what you have done? You've fixed the bug that two contractors before us couldn't fix. I knew you would be a great asset when I hired you, but I never dreamed you would fix the bug in only two short weeks. So, did it require a major redesign as everyone else was telling me?"
"No, only a few part changes were required. Our team did a great job on fixing this."
"I'm not buying that John." John got a worried look on his face at Michael's comment. "I've only known you a couple of weeks now but I've come to realize that you are strictly a team player, you downplay how much you've personally had to do with this. I've been reading your group emails, you are the sole reason this has been fixed, every one of my other engineers including my previous senior supervisor were unable to make headway on this. Hell, the last two companies couldn't make it work either; do you know what a feather this will be in our cap with the government boys? You deserve all the credit, and I promise a tidy bonus in your next check if all these beta tests come out positive."
The very next day they were testing a beta production unit of the CASTER. It performed perfectly. John's whole department screamed with joy and patted John on the back. Michael at hearing the news that it had worked perfectly sent down champagne for everyone and joined the festivities after the tests were complete. Everyone was given a glass of champagne, Michael stood up on a small stool so that everyone could see him. The noisy crowd went dead silent as he began to speak. "Today you have done what two companies before us failed to do. Hell we even failed our first round. You have taken the most promising communication instrument the armed services has ever dreamed up and made it a reality. Everyone will be getting a nice bonus in his or her next check as my little way of saying thank you to all your hard work on this project. Congratulations to you all and especially to our newest family member, John Bristol." Everyone raised their glasses in a toast, and said thank you to John. Michael walked around the room and personally shook hands with every team member.